The public concern for sustainability issues is ever increasing whilst the trust in corporations is decreasing. CEOs now see sustainability concern and compliance as an important component in retaining their competitive advantage and regaining the trust of their surrounding community. For these reasons it is important to find new manners of uniting societal improvement with business, requiring new forms of competencies. This study has investigated what sustainability education is actually central to the industrial engineering profile, as well as what of this is then covered in the programs.

The study involved two phases. The first involved interviewing experts as to what was central for these engineers to learn, resulting in a content list. The second phase involved mapping the instances of this content in the five largest industrial engineering programs (covering circa 74% of these students) as well as the associated challenges to broaching this content. The first phase was primarily qualitative whilst the second phase was largely quantitative, though each data point consisted of a qualitative interview.

Five key insights can be drawn from the study regardless of normative stand-point. 1) The sustainability topics that were deemed relevant cover a vast area of disciplines and aspects. 2) There is a skewedness in the content covered, favouring the environmental aspects. 3) There is a lack of integrative instances where the knowledge from different sources and perspectives is synthesized. 4) The key challenges revolve around concept definition and communication. 5) The normativity, interconnectedness and pedagogics contribute with uncertainty and complexity in the assessment of sustainability education.

The study is finalized with a synthesis of the various insights to arrive at the conclusion that having sustainable business practice as the aim of the programs, establishing common content goals and employing active learning approach would circumvent many of the perceived challenges as well as align the programs with the need of the industry.

This study contributes with deeper understanding of the sustainability education required and provided to industrial engineering students in Sweden. As such the study has practical applications for the programs studied. The theoretical implications of this study lie in the empirical data achieved regarding the topics of relevance to these engineers, showing high levels of agreement with current literature, as well as the perceived challenges to broaching this content in the current curricula. Furthermore it provides empirical data as to the sustainability education received at different programs.

The public concern for sustainability issues is ever increasing whilst the trust in corporations is decreasing. CEOs now see sustainability concern and compliance as an important component in retaining their competitive advantage and regaining the trust of their surrounding community. For these reasons it is important to find new manners of uniting societal improvement with business, requiring new forms of competencies. This study has investigated what sustainability education is actually central to the industrial engineering profile, as well as what of this is then covered in the programs.

The study involved two phases. The first involved interviewing experts as to what was central for these engineers to learn, resulting in a content list. The second phase involved mapping the instances of this content in the five largest industrial engineering programs (covering circa 74% of these students) as well as the associated challenges to broaching this content. The first phase was primarily qualitative whilst the second phase was largely quantitative, though each data point consisted of a qualitative interview.

Five key insights can be drawn from the study regardless of normative stand-point. 1) The sustainability topics that were deemed relevant cover a vast area of disciplines and aspects. 2) There is a skewedness in the content covered, favouring the environmental aspects. 3) There is a lack of integrative instances where the knowledge from different sources and perspectives is synthesized. 4) The key challenges revolve around concept definition and communication. 5) The normativity, interconnectedness and pedagogics contribute with uncertainty and complexity in the assessment of sustainability education.

The study is finalized with a synthesis of the various insights to arrive at the conclusion that having sustainable business practice as the aim of the programs, establishing common content goals and employing active learning approach would circumvent many of the perceived challenges as well as align the programs with the need of the industry.

This study contributes with deeper understanding of the sustainability education required and provided to industrial engineering students in Sweden. As such the study has practical applications for the programs studied. The theoretical implications of this study lie in the empirical data achieved regarding the topics of relevance to these engineers, showing high levels of agreement with current literature, as well as the perceived challenges to broaching this content in the current curricula. Furthermore it provides empirical data as to the sustainability education received at different programs.

The financial sector stands for an important part of society’s fundamental infrastructure andnational economy. Previous financial crises indicate the importance of having a well-regulatedfinancial market. Former directives of regulating the insurance industry had insufficient solvencyregulations and were lacking in risk management. Therefore, the regulatory framework SolvencyII, the successor to Solvency I, has been established on the European market. The objective ofSolvency II is to ensure consumer protection by ensuring insurance companies properly reflectthe risks their businesses are vulnerable to.The regulatory framework Solvency II came into force in the turn of 2015/2016. However, it hasbeen on every insurers’ agenda for years and preparations have been done. It is therefore ofinterest to investigate how Swedish insurance companies have adjusted to Solvency II at an earlystage after the transition.This has been investigated by conducting interviews with mainly Chief Risk Officers and RiskManagers at Swedish insurance companies. As a complement, a questionnaire was distributed toasset and capital managers, having insurers as customers, regarding their perception of insurers’changes in investment behaviors.The findings of this study imply that insurance companies have had a compliance focus to adoptthe regulation rather than a business focus. No indications of adjustments to corporate businessstrategy has yet been noticed. However, some companies have developed a risk culture withinthe organizations. The extensive reporting and calculations of capital that Solvency II entails, haslead to implementations of new systems and processes for companies. It is further noticed thatSwedish insurance companies use the standard model for calculating the capital requirements.Solvency II has lead to increased understanding of the trade-off between capital, risk, and returnby holding a risk-adjusted capital. Also, an increased engagement of employees in the riskmanagement process has been noticed. The companies are aligned with the ORSA process, sinceit is one of the requirements, and are aware of the potential benefits the ORSA process cancontribute to. Lastly, this study indicates an improved risk awareness and culture within theinsurance companies by educating existing employees and employing new competentemployees.

Rapid development and changes in customer needs places high demands on companies to constantly adapt to new customer requirements in order to stay competitive. This places further demands on companies’ ability to put the customer in focus and quickly develop, produce and offer what the customers expect, which often implies organizational changes. Organizational changes can contribute to making employees feel confused and insecure concerning their new role, which in turn contributes to low motivation and inefficiency among employees. Research has shown that a critical success factor for changes is employees’ ability to cope and adapt to change. Leaders have a decisive role in this and can help employees considerably when it comes to this aspect. The problem is a lack of knowledge about which aspects of leadership are most important for companies to develop in order to better manage organizational changes.

This research has investigated leadership deficiencies in insurance companies that prevent them from managing organizational changes effectively. Furthermore this research has examined how insurance companies may rectify the leadership deficiencies that have been identified in this research. The research consisted of a case study at Trygg--‐Hansa, which included both interviews and questionnaires.

The results indicated that leaders have deficiencies within Self--‐Awareness, Communication, Lead Employees, Manage Change and Strategic Planning. Furthermore, the most important deficiency to improve is Communication since it is the foundation for the others in some extent.

The findings in this research have both research and managerial implications. Regarding the research implications, this research identifies important leadership shortcomings that prevent insurance companies from manage organizational changes effectively. Regarding the managerial implications, the findings in this study may be too firm specific for urging other companies and organizations to use the results and suggested recommendation of this research.

This paper investigates problem areas related to energy efficiency implementation in Swedish multifamily buildings. The paper first presents a generic list of (theoretical) problem areas identified through a literature survey. Using a qualitative approach, the paper also investigates if the problem areas identified in the literature also have an impact on the Swedish building sector. Results from the interview study reveal a strong coherence between problem areas in the literature and those expressed by the interviewees. However, this paper identifies seven novel challenges that cannot be derived from the list of barriers in the literature. Moreover, results reveal that as many as 12 problem areas have their origin in national factors such as agreement structures, incentive schemes, and cost calculation methods.

The purpose of this study is to understand turbulence in the field of payments in Europe and which future challenges this bring. The objective is to enable actors – industrial as well as policy-making agencies – to avoid becoming passive and reluctant to take needed steps that may realize a new playing field for payments.

A society’s potential economic gains from replacing cash-based payments with electronic payments are large, and mobile payments may help this transition. The purpose of this paper is to understand consumers’ attitudes on start using mobile payment services.

Over the past decades, we have witnessed changes into how individual’s pay. In particular, there has been a drop in the use of cash as payment instrument both in terms of value and frequency. Consequently, the amount of outstanding cash is shrinking. For instance, in Sweden the level of cash is around 1.5% of Gross Domestic Product. This might be a tipping point for when cash is of practical use. In the paper, we present a research model that explores when merchants will stop accepting cash.

The knowledge economy and the changing nature of knowledge production, the increased interaction between public agencies, industry and universities, and the changing labour market for doctoral degree holders are forces that together have led to an increased interest in the organization of doctoral education – particularly the role of collaborative doctoral education. Models like the Triple Helix have become important frameworks for conceptually capturing the interactions and dynamics of industry, government and university collaborations at various levels. Yet, empirical research on the motivations of and outcomes for the industrial partners in collaborative PhD education remains scanty. Through a case study conducted in Sweden, this article discusses the perceived industrial benefits of participating in collaborative doctoral education. The analysis shows that the outcomes of industrial participation are highly connected to the organization of the collaboration, and the authors identify four important criteria that are key to ensuring industrial relevance. The article also highlights significant policy implications for encouraging and supporting collaborative doctoral training, as the authors conclude that it is a powerful tool in addressing skills gaps in industry.

The overall objective of this thesis is to analyse the economies and diseconomies of moving the production of standardized parts, i.e. parts which are used in matured products, to low cost countries whilst looking at improvements that could be done to the current supply chain strategy.

The research conducted in this report has shown that Company A has a potential to cut the cost for product X by outsourcing Component 1 to a low cost country in Eastern Europe where the labour costs are low enough that the main cost driver for the component becomes the raw material as opposed to labour cost. There is also a possibility that a larger storage could be used to reduce both cost and problems stemming from the volatility of the demand which was experienced by the Buyer of Company A. The argument for keeping a larger amount of stock would be the results from the interviews held for the Smith matrix analysis, where all of the interviewees agreed that the component rarely ever had any changes made to its specification and no changes are believed to be done to the technology. If the yearly demand is set, Company A could therefore plan a purchase of larger batches which would lower the cost.

The risks associated with outsourcing can according to the literature be lowered through the use of a multi sourcing strategy that would secure the delivery in the event that the non-local company would fail to deliver an order. The downside to this tactic is that the batch sizes ordered from the internationally located supplier would be smaller and thus increasing the cost per part. The balance of orders to the two suppliers must therefore be considered and planned in great detail to keep both price and risk at an appropriate level.

Today’s fast and changing market demands an ever increasing focus on creativity and innovation. This puts pressure on the organisations to follow this trend if they want to stay competitive in the market place. However, as the market has become more global and competition has intensified there has also been a constant focus on efficiency and cost reduction. Balancing between a creative and efficient organisation is connected to the balance between exploration and exploitation. This study aimed at investigating how this balance affects a process managed R&D organisation at an individual level. Furthermore it was of interest to investigate how this balance affects the creativity of the individuals within the organisation.

The data was collected using qualitative interviews at the subject under study, Scania R&D. The interviews were conducted at UTM, a unit working with material technology and corporate standards at Scania.

The study shows that the balance between exploration and exploitation will affect the organisation in five major areas, Short Term Focus, Flexibility, Learning, Interaction and Proactiveness. These areas have then been shown to have an impact on creativity in different ways. From these results a model denoted The Creativity Dilemma model was created. The results suggest that ambidexterity is a way of approaching the problem, as it will alleviate the individuals from the issues of balancing between exploration and exploitation. Furthermore, several implications concerning the role of management have been proposed as they together construct the backbone of what managers need address to enable an innovative organisation. These are; enable a creative climate, nurture creativity and innovation, motivate, educate and give insight. These managerial implications should serve as guidelines for managers when trying to adapt the results into an organisation.

Electricity retailers have difficulties to differentiate themselves from each other, dueto increased competition and political regulations. The electric energy tradingmarket is facing a paradigm shift.The purpose of this study has been to investigate how a modern electricity retailercan avoid current and forthcoming difficulties within the market and what directionsthey should choose in order to improve their profitability.The study has been conducted using a quantitative and qualitative approach. Thequantitative approached was used to systematically describe all electricity retailersthat exist today in Sweden and collect data for analyzing how profitable they are.Structured interviews were later conducted in order to gather qualitative data fromthe most interesting companies from the quantitative data collection.From the quantitative approach it was found that selling electricity from guaranteeof origin was approximately two to four times more profitable than selling nuclearand fossil produced electricity. The total profits from electricity trading alone issurprisingly low. From the quantitative data sample, it was shown that 50 per centof the electricity retailers earn less than one million SEK and their averageprofitability is approximately 0.28 million SEK.In the qualitative study it was concluded that those who had succeeded with higherprofits were working with services along with the electricity trading. Examples ofsuch services are charity and loyalty programs. It was stated in the interviews thatthe profits are still low and will remain low if solely rely on electricity trading. Ittakes at least four years for a customer to be profitable. The most promisingsolution to avoid getting stuck in the middle is to expand their business withproducts together with services, servitization. If the electricity retailers shouldexpand their businesses with selling products together with services related toelectricity, servitization, they should also position themselves with a certaincompetitive strategy (cost leadership, differentiation, focus) and target a specificgroup. Groups that have been identified together with these competitive strategiesare those who wants to save money (cost leadership), environmentally friendly /technology enthusiasts (focus) and inbetweeners (differentiation)

The retail payment market can be seen as a high velocity market, where the rate of change is high. The future for the retail payment market is uncertain to a large extent. A relatively new phenomenon is the entrance of third party payment providers (hereafter; TPP) who are utilizing the incumbent banks account infrastructure in order access information or initiate payments. A legislation named PSD2 will increase the TPP’s possibilities to utilize the bank’s infrastructure. This makes it possible for TPP to offer new innovative solutions to the end customer.

The incumbent actors on the retail payment market have not been successful in regards to innovation, which have given fintech companies room to grow, both in size and numbers. However, the incumbent actors do still possess a strong position, but are frequently challenged by new startups who also want to initiate payments. Historically, the entrance barrier to the retail payment market have been high and the incumbent actors have had an oligopoly position. It has resulted in a lack of competition and a low innovation rate. However, this is starting to change because of new initiatives from EU, where the aim is to increase competition and facilitate a well- functioning retail payment market. Therefore, the increased competition from fintech startups is a relatively new phenomenon and most actors in the retail payment market think it is a beneficial evolution, except few representatives from the incumbent players who are worried that their existing competitive advantages will be outdated.

This study provides a picture of how the retail payment market can develop in the future. By determining the most critical trends, it becomes clear what is driving the retail payment market and how the dynamic between actors is changing. In order to get the necessary insights to fulfil the purpose, 18 interviews have been conducted with different stakeholders to the retail payment market. The variation of perspectives of the interviewees give this study a depth that in the end enhance the validity of the result.

It is hard to predict the future in a market characterized by high velocity, hence, it is important to understand what trends have the strongest influence on the market. By analysing the interviews, six trends were identified as having a huge impact on the payment market. 1. Merchants are pushing EU to regulate to their favour 2. Access to the information created when conducting payments 3. Incumbent banks have a hard time adopting to new changes 4. New technical solutions enable more actors to create payment solutions with global coverage 5. Actors without payment

as core business enter the market 6. New regulations, such as PSD2, aims to increase competition on the retail payment market.

Two of these six trends have been identified to be particularly uncertain and having a huge impact on the development of the retail payment market. Furthermore, these two trends are characterised by a dichotomy and the development of them will influence the market in four distinctively different ways. The first dichotomy is whether it becomes easy to be compliant with new legislations, or not. The study shows that if it becomes a heavy burden being compliant with PSD2 and using the technical standard for XS2A, the market will be characterized by economies of scale. If it on the other hand becomes is easy being compliant with PSD2 and initiate payments through XS2A, the overhead costs will decrease and the benefits of scale shrink. The second dichotomy, is whether actors without payment as core business will enter the market, or not. If payments can be seamlessly integrated in other applications, for instance a shopping experience, it is likely that payments will be initiated by actors who does not have payment initiations as core business. However, if it becomes hard to initiate payments on the banks account infrastructure, the attractiveness of having payments as a value adding service fades.

The 100 billion SEK heating industry is currently experiencing industrial change where new business models are required to maintain and create competitive advantage. The market is more fragmented and unpredictable than ever before and what historically has been seen as obvious is no longer apparent. Destructive technology from geothermal heating (GH) is reinforcing the urban areas. This is a strong and environmental friendly technology, but so is also district heating (DH).

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the prospects of district heating and geothermal heating and the arising competitive landscape that is trembling the heating market. This has been compiled through comprehensive investigation of the heating market and through relevant theories derived from industrial change.

The findings shows that customers possess a strong confidence towards GH. It has also been shown that real estate firms and private housing associations values heating from different point of views. The real estate’s adopts to GH mainly to diverse business risk, whereas private housing associations adopts as result of lock-in effects and poor price transparency from the DH supplier. Moreover, it has been shown that GH diffusion have a strong correlation with DH price and only minor or no correlation with GDP, interest rate, or electricity price in the short run, which was an overall market view. However, not surprisingly, the outer forces are confirmed to have a very significant impact on the prospects of DH and GH. The consequences of the long-term conversion to renewable electricity by 100 percent, and the system perspective, on how to measure the consumed energy remain factors that are difficult to predict but indeed have a major impact. GH is assumed to continue to claim market shares unless the DH supplier are revising or/and redefining their business models.

Is of common use to see and read a lot of books, researches and studies upon lean management, which are mostly focused on manufacturing. Lean Management experience nside manufacturing has deeply and widely received a lot of consensus, especially during the last years also by other industries. Although a real long-lasting and vital history could not be captured and visualized in other industries as much as inside manufacturing, a change of oute and an immense recognized gap is becoming the real future challenge, the plementation of Lean Principles inside other industries.

The following research is the effort and result of a half-year internship and collaboration etween IMIM Program and Solving Efeso – a Consulting Company, in Milan, Italy. This timeframe was divided into three parts, identified by phases: Phase 1- Studies & Analysis on Lean Approach; Phase 2 – Trend Analysis; Phase 3 – Consolidation. This investigation has to be included inside the time frame of the two-year studies as result of the IMIM Master Programme Final Conclusion.

It has to be said that this research develops its main topic on Telecommunication Industry, with the aim to understand the current dynamics the industry is facing, with a particular focused view on Telecom Operators. The fast and continuous changing environment, the technology revolution, the WCom cloud boom, the customer expectancies and needs with the objective of increasing the profitability and market share; these are some of the relevant facts that are affecting the Communication Industry. Telecom Operators aren’t unfamiliar and subtracted from such circumstances; they are steadily trying to maximize their business. Is therefore, here where the big question mark lies; deepen the knowledge and focus on their business process? This research is willing to bring such issue under clear lenses of ean principles and process business excellence.

The study is seeking to understand the current state and to highlight the future trends that could be aligned with future strategies. The objective and purpose of this study are to support and bring a clear evidence of the application and feasibility of Lean Principles and Process Business Excellence inside Telecom Operators. Therefore crucial questions have been raised to see and understand the background of the environment, but also trying to answer them with real data. The core problems that this thesis is wiling to answer are: the applicability of lean approach inside telecom operators as a continuous improvement process, the role of KPI management and the technology speed.

The structure of this research reflects the evolution of the empirical studies as a starting point, which is supported by a more direct and targeted elaboration. The validity of it is mainly based on: the previous knowledge acquired through the master studies, the company based study cases, direct benchmarking of several telecom operators - through interviews, surveys and data collection - and the scientific research. Therefore, the content of the studys developed in various chapters, which will try to explain and give a final conclusion of the exhaustive structure of this research problem.

Companies all over the world are seeking ways to address sustainability related issues, both to meet external expectations and as a way to find opportunities for growth and innovation. Many attempts have been made in providing descriptions and guidance in how sustainability can be adopted within corporations. However, much of earlier research has focused on the manufacturing industry where materials and production processes are central in the concept. How sustainability can be incorporated in service industries, more specifically by IT service providers (ITSPs), is a somewhat unexplored area even though the potential for sustainability related risks as well as opportunities are high. Previous research in this area that has set out to construct models of this phenomenon has not managed to consider the characteristics of IT service providers to the fullest.

This study has investigated how ITSPs can incorporate sustainability into business practices through a multiple-case study with four ITSP and one technical consulting company. The data has been collected through interviews and document analysis, and analyzed both separately and by comparison. Additional interviews were held with experts and professionals with elevant knowledge to strengthen the findings.

This study resulted in model that can serve as an analytical tool and presentation format when incorporating sustainability in business practices within the IT Professional service industry. The results showed that incorporation of sustainability in practices needs to be divided in two main categories; incorporating sustainability in internal operations and incorporating sustainability in customer offerings. Within these categories the study identified a number of activities that ITSPs can undertake to incorporate sustainability and what outcomes they may have. It was concluded that the activities in within internal operations were primarily focused on building trust towards customers. The study also showed that incorporating sustainability in customer offerings can be done to different extent with different outcomes. The critical activities to successfully incorporate sustainability in customer offerings has been described in the study and visualized in a 3-level map to further provide guidance. A main finding within this category was that interaction with the customer is crucial to successfully deploy service offerings that incorporate sustainability. The results can be generalized to other ITSPs in similar settings and parts can also be argued to be adoptable to other companies in the professional service industry that rely on intense technology.

The first of July 1952, the moped was legislatively excluded from existing restrictions for heavier two-wheeled motorized vehicles. A driver/owner of a “bicycle with auxiliary engine” – this was the original denomination of the vehicle – thus needed no registration, driver’s license or insurance, nor pay any vehicle tax. The legislators did, however, postulate some technical requirements. Besides regulation of the engine, the vehicle should be “bicycle-like” and have pedals. It should thus be driven primarily by means of human, not mechanical, power (i.e., it was not supposed to be a lighter version of a motorcycle). In terms of social and economic goals, the state assumed workers to be the primary users, and a utilitarian use rather than one connected to pleasure and spare time. Very quickly, however, the moped lost all resemblance with the ordinary bicycle (except for the pedals). In a new legislation in 1961, the state yielded to the technical development. The moped no longer needed to resemble a bicycle or have pedals. Meanwhile, the moped also became more of a toy for boys – a vehicle for freedom – rather than the useful tool the state had wished for. In fact, we argue that the demands from user groups not foreseen played a crucial role in changing the legal technical requirements of the moped.This paper deals with the co-evolution, technically and institutionally, of the moped during the period 1952–75. Using a method inspired by evolutionary theory, the moped models released in Sweden in these years are grouped in “families” with distinctive technical features and accompanying presumed uses. We analyze this development using concepts from the theoretical fields of innovation studies and the history of technology

Method for engineering students provides an overview of how to formulate, design, produce and deliver a thesis of good quality. The book is relevant for all types of degree projects on bachelors’ and masters’ levels and is also useful when performing research work in other contexts. This is the first comprehensive book on research methodology for engineering students who are performing their degree project within or close to the social sciences. The book has been inspired by modern product design – the thesis is seen as a product – and takes as its starting point the fact that one may have two clients when carrying out a degree project (Academia and Industry). It also describes how to work one’s way through the process through the development of different prototypes. We see the thesis work as a form of craft and the book contains the most important scientific tools that are needed in order to make informed choices.

22.

Blomkvist, Pär

et al.

KTH, School of Industrial Engineering and Management (ITM), Industrial Economics and Management (Dept.).

In this article we contribute to the discussion of infrastructural change in Africa, and explore how a new theoretical perspective may offer a different, more comprehensive and historically informed understanding of the trend towards large water infrastructure in Africa. We examine the socio-technical dynamics of large water infrastructures in Nairobi, Kenya, in a longer historical perspective using two concepts that we call intra-systemic alignment and inter-level alignment. Our theoretical perspective is inspired by Large Technical Systems (LTS) and Multi-Level Perspective (MLP). While inter-level alignment focuses on the process of aligning the technological system at the three levels of niche, regime and landscape, intra-systemic alignment deals with how components within the regime are harmonised and standardised to fit with each other. We pay special attention to intra-systemic alignment between the supply side and the demand side, or as we put it, upstream and downstream components of a system. In narrating the history of water supply in Nairobi, we look at both the upstream (large-scale supply) and downstream activities (distribution and payment), and compare the Nairobi case with European history of large infrastructures. We emphasise that regime actors in Nairobi have dealt with the issues of alignment mainly to facilitate and expand upstream activities, while concerning downstream activities they have remained incapable of expanding service and thus integrating the large segment of low-income consumers. We conclude that the present surge of large-scale water investment in Nairobi is the result of sector reforms that enabled the return to a long tradition – a 'Nairobi style' – of upstream investment mainly benefitting the high-income earners. Our proposition is that much more attention needs to be directed at inter-level alignment at the downstream end of the system, to allow the creation of niches aligned to the regime.

Personal electric vehicles (EV) is an emerging technology that has gained much momentum in several markets during the past decade, and China is currently one of the markets where the growth in EV sales is the highest. Since the industry is still in its infancy, there are currently no clear structures regarding the relationships between different actors that apply to all markets globally, leading to great uncertainty in strategic decisions. The commissioner of this study is Hong Kong EV Power Ltd. (EV Power), a producer of EV supply equipment (EVSE) and related services in Hong Kong, which aspires to enter the Chinese mainland in the near future. However, EV Power has yet to decide which city they want to target first.

This thesis aims to formulate a model that can be used to evaluate and compare geographic markets for a market entry by an EVSE company. Furthermore, the model is tested on three cities in Mainland China (Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen), in order to derive the most attractive city for EV Power and to evaluate the adequacy of the model. Lastly, with the results from the city evaluation, as a point of departure, success factors for an entry into Mainland China by the commissioning company will be summarized.

In order to achieve this objective, four distinct data collection methods have been used: First, theory was studied, in order to gain background knowledge as well as to understand specific factors that impact a market entry decision such as this. Second, EV Power’s current business in Hong Kong was observed, with a view to achieve an understanding of what has led the company to experience success in its home market. Third, Interviews with industry experts were conducted, so as to get a perspective on the industry as a whole. Fourth and last, secondary data for the different cities was collected, for the sake of evaluating them according to the developed model.

The final model consists of five main factors that encompass the elements that influence a cities level of attractiveness for entry by an EV charging station supplier. The identified factors are: ‘Market accessibility’, ‘Short-term demand’, ‘Expected market share’, ‘Profit margin’, and ‘Long-term product potential’. These factors are in turn divided into sub factors that have their own set of drivers. Using the model to evaluate the cities, it was found that Shanghai is the most suitable city for a market entry by EV Power, mainly due to its dominance in the market for private EVs and a favourable regulatory environment. Finally, three main success factors, for such a market entry, were found: ‘Focus on services’, ‘Maintain partner relationships’, and ‘Enter early’.

Globalization is a phenomenon that has changed the way business is done forever. It is a process of tearing down barrier between nations to increase free trade and free market. This has created a new, more competitive economic environment that offers both new opportunities but also new threats to organizations. Two part especially affected by globalization are the supply chain and distribution of a company. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the impact globalization has on the supply chain and distribution of a company active in the wine- and spirits industry. The impact of globalization has been investigated through a multi-layer multiple case study, where the main case has been on a Pernod Ricard. To help with the investigation of the supply chain of Pernod Ricard cases on ABSOLUT Vodka and JF Hillebrand Logistics AB have also been done. To help with the interpretivistic study, qualitative methods have been used to gather information. These methods are; interviews at the case companies, documentary analysis and a literature review to help create the theoretical framework. From an analysis of the gathered information it can be concluded that globalization impacts three main areas; the opening of new markets, new transportation possibilities and new collaboration opportunities such as collaborations within the European Union. Within each of these areas a few findings have been identified that Pernod Ricard needs to work actively with to improve their supply chain and distribution. They need to focus on costs, sales, the lowering of lead times and the environmental impact. By working with these factors Pernod Ricard will become more competitive and survive in the new economic environment created by globalization.

The Master thesis deals with cross functional disciplines in contemporary organizations. The output of the thesis is a framework for industrialization of industrial products at home and offshore locations. The framework is meant to be used at strategic and tactical level by managers in medium sized manufacturing enterprises.

In the first phase, the author spent time observing operations of different functions in a medium sized industrial machinery manufacture (referred henceforth as CM S.p.A.). This enabled the author to understand the existing industrialization and new product development (NPD) process at CM S.p.A. The time spent within the premises helped the author to take a closer look at manufacturing challenges for an enterprise having dispersed development and manufacturing facilities.

In the second phase, the author critically reviewed existing literature on NPD, industrialization, CFTs, project management, tacit knowledge transfer, supply chain management, strategic sourcing and procurement areas to look for solutions to the challenges observed at CM S.p.A in the first phase.

With inputs from the real challenges of an enterprise and the literature, an industrialization framework was prepared for CM S.p.A using general morphological analysis. In the last phase, the industrialization framework was discussed and generalized for other researchers and organizations.

In this thesis, the author claims not to have developed original knowledge which never existed. But he certainly claims to arrange the available, scattered knowledge into a usable form, thus making it understandable and useful for the real customer – the practitioners who make products which serve the society. This framework and the novel methodology used to make this framework are important starting points for academic researchers to improve product industrialization process in a globalized world.

This thesis addresses the issue of adopting cloud computing in two aspects. The first being the procedure of choosing a commonality that constitutes the base of comparing the most appropriate cloud platform from identified parameters. The second being to find constraints of adopting cloud computing related to the commonality.

This commonality was identified in form of a process that portrayed characteristics which made it suitable for identifying parameters and comparing two cloud platforms (Azure and AWS). The comparison of platforms based on the parameters; lock-in, standardization and data security led to conclusive remarks that discouraged any further effort on comparing cloud platforms. Lack of standards and lock-in that cannot be avoided are traits of the unfitting environment the cloud platforms constitute.

Furthermore, it was concluded that the adoption constraints are first priority when it comes to adopting cloud computing. Instead of choosing the cloud platform with least amount of constraints, it is recommended to firstly focus on the adoption constraints.

Tradable Green Certificates (TGC) schemes are among the prevalent policy frameworks to promote investments in Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES-E). However, a technology-neutral design of the TGC system is coupled with uneven competition across renewable energy subsectors. The cost of RES-E technologies is often identified as the primary cause for this unevenness. This paper sheds light on additional explanatory factors for uneven competition, illustrating that investment paths vary across subsectors. Such paths can influence investor dynamic capabilities to explore new market opportunities and reinforce future investment behavior in each subsector. Empirical data from the Swedish TGC system for wind power, biopower, and hydropower are used for this analysis. The results indicate that investor dynamic capabilities related to cumulative experience and industrial diversification vary significantly across renewable energy subsectors. The findings are relevant to TGC program design.

There is consensus about a need to reduce the amount of green-house gas emission in the electricity industry to be able to deal with the probable consequences of climate change. This necessitates extensive investments in technologies used to generate electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E). To stimulate such investments, governments have enacted several policy instruments. However, the outcomes of these instruments are mixed. This thesis delineates two reasons for the different effects of policies. First, the development of the renewable electricity industry hinges on a set of driving forces that differ across regions, through the years and for different actors. Given that, policy instruments are not only driving forces behind the renewable electricity industry and can thus by themselves not explain its development.

Second, RES-E investors comprise a heterogeneous group of actors whose perceptions of business opportunities vary substantially and are also based on a variety of driving forces. Hence, RES-E investors may react differently to changes within the electricity industry, as well as to government policies that aim to create a more sustainable electricity industry. Garnering a better understanding of these reactions is therefore important as they influence the pace of transition to a more sustainable electricity industry.

This is an interdisciplinary study that brings together several theories and research areas. First, using the technological innovation system perspective, it identifies systemic driving forces behind the development of the renewable energy industry that will also accelerate the electricity industry transitions to sustainability. To gain a better insight into the role of policy instruments as such as well as in relation to other driving forces, this thesis explores what factors are accounted for in attempts to assess the instruments’ performance. Second, drawing on sustainability transition studies and dynamic capability theories, this thesis seeks to explore which firms are willing to contribute—and capable of contributing—to sustainability transitions in the electricity industry. The thesis argues that good forecast and policy plans need to be built on a solid understanding of the firms that change the structure of the electricity industry through their RES-E investments.

This thesis leverages a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. Empirical data are collected through two extensive literature reviews on the driving forces of the renewable energy industry development in Europe, a longitudinal case study on a European multinational energy company, and statistical analyses of data on RES-E investors in Sweden. The thesis makes theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to this area of research. The findings explain what motivates the development of the renewable energy industry; who competes in the renewable electricity industry; and what the future renewable electricity industry may look like. The thesis outlines implications for policies, for managers as well as for renewable energy technologies.

The tradable green certificates (TGC) framework is a prevalent policy-support scheme enacted to stimulate investments in electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E). In several countries, including Sweden and Norway, the TGC framework is currently under reevaluation. In this process, academic literature plays a crucial role by assessing the outcomes of this policy framework. The outcomes, however, are often limited by the analysis criteria, which reflect what has been accounted for or disregarded and also stress what is considered a successful outcome. Given the importance of such criteria, this paper presents an extensive and systemic literature review of academic publications assessing the performance of the TGC framework using the Web of Science database. The findings are to provide an overview of the publications’ analysis criteria and outline their outcomes. We also provide descriptive statistics for the publications and examine the average citation record of the publications that use various analysis criteria in order to explore their relative impact on later studies. These findings can help policy makers place the assessments into perspective when reevaluating a country’s TGC system. They also suggest several intriguing directions for future studies in this field.

In the European energy industry, different countries’ national institutional frameworks have evolved divergently in response to increasing concerns about environmental issues. This paper explores the influence of these divergent national institutional frameworks on the strategic behavior of multinational company (MNC) subsidiaries. Differences in MNC subsidiaries’ strategic decisions in different countries, regardless of common capabilities and strategies, illustrate the importance of this influence. The paper focuses on the strategic decisions that determine which energy technology MNCs choose to acquire or invest in. MNCs are the predominant force in the European energy industry, and our understanding of their strategic decisions regarding choice of technology is an essential step in achieving a low-carbon energy industry. Our analysis is based on a longitudinal case study of Vattenfall, a Swedish multinational energy company. Findings confirm that even in the energy industry—a capital-intensive, national, and institution-based industry—MNCs follow their core global strategy to such an extent that it may prevail over local institutional considerations. Nevertheless, as European energy markets become deregulated and renewable energy matures, local institutions are likely to play a more dominant role, and MNCs will increasingly need to comply with local institutions’ guidelines. The paper offers recommendations for policymakers and several managerial implications.

At present, governments are embarking on the ambitious undertaking of increasing their countries' market share of renewable energy. Political ambitions, however, are just one of the driving forces for energy companies' to engage in innovative climate projects. Energy companies' perceptions of business opportunities are dependent on a set of factors that influence their innovation ambitions. This research operationalizes previous work on the main drivers of the establishment of Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs), with the aim of presenting an overview of the typical systemic drivers within a technological innovation system (TIS) framework. This leads to the proposal of a comprehensive typology and categorization of drivers of RETs. The typology is validated empirically by analyzing data on the development of four types of RETs (wind, solar, biomass and wave energy) in eight European countries (EU-7 and Ireland). The study's results shed light on the multilateral drivers behind the development of RETs. Furthermore, a cross-case comparative study reveals the differences between drivers of RETs and the patterns of these drivers in different countries.

In order to facilitate the transition to electricity sectors with low CO2 emissions, it is important to understand which firms invest in new renewable energy technologies, and which firms are responsive to energy policies. This study concentrates on the heterogeneous characteristics of investors in wind power that are embedded in the investors’ dynamic capabilities. The paper explores which type of investors display a positive reaction to the undifferentiated policy, and thus build up more assets in wind power. Empirical data is collected on investments in the Swedish wind energy industry in the Swedish tradable certificate system. The findings demonstrate that the cumulative wind power assets are indeed influenced by investors’ characteristics. Investors with a greater resource endowment, higher investment experience and a mixed generation portfolio hold higher share of assets in wind. The results also indicate that the investors’ age in the wind industry has a negative relation with the cumulative assets in wind, offering evidence on the important role of new entrants in this industry. This study offers insights for policy makers on which investors are responsive to the certificate system and invest in wind. It also implies that a more diversified set of policies could stimulate a greater variety of firms to invest in wind power.

In order to facilitate the transition to electricity industries with low CO2 emissions, it is important to understand which firms invest in renewable energy technologies. This study concentrates on the heterogeneous characteristics of investors in wind power that are embedded in the investors' dynamic capabilities. Data on 617 investors in the Swedish onshore wind industry are analyzed. Investors with higher investment and management experience and a mixed generation portfolio whose business is electricity production have more assets in wind. Investors' age in the wind industry has a negative relation with assets in wind, illustrating that latecomers are investing more. Individual incumbents of the electricity industry hold a relatively large amount of assets in the Swedish wind industry, but the group of incumbents as a whole possesses only 15 percent of wind assets. The results suggest that tailor-made policies could stimulate a greater variety of firms to invest in wind power.

In order to facilitate the transition to electricity industries with low CO2 emissions, it is important to understand which firms invest in renewable energy technologies, and which firms are responsive to energy policies. This study concentrates on the heterogeneous characteristics of investors in wind power that are embedded in the investors’ dynamic capabilities. The paper explores which investors respond to changes in energy policy aimed at a more sustainable electricity industry, and accordingly invest in wind power. Empirical data is collected on investments in the Swedish wind power industry and on prices in the Swedish tradable certificate system. The findings demonstrate that the cumulative wind power assets are influenced by investors’ characteristics. Investors with higher investment experience and a mixed generation portfolio whose business is dedicated to electricity generation hold a higher share of assets in wind. The results also indicate that the investors’ age in the wind power industry has a negative relation with the cumulative assets in wind, offering evidence on the important role of new entrants in this industry. This study offers insights for policy makers by showing, which investors are responsive to the certificate system and invest in wind. We also argue that a more diversified set of policies may stimulate a greater variety of firms to invest in wind power.

In the European policy debate, Tradable Green Certificates (TGC) system has been considered as a superior support scheme to stimulate investments in Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES-E). The TGC system even had been suggested as an option for a harmonized support scheme for the European electricity industry.

At present, after more than a decade of having TGC systems in the European electricity sectors, several countries including Sweden and Norway, are reevaluating their TGC system. In this reevaluation process, scholarly articles can contribute to the knowledge for policymakers on the current outcomes and consequences of TGC systems in different European countries. Nevertheless, how did researchers examine outcomes of the TGC system relating to investments in RES-E?

In order to address this, we conduct an extensive and systematic literature review based on the Web of Science database. Our review reveals the topics that have been investigated intensively. However, our results also indicate other important key topics and issues, as outcomes of the TGC system that have been neglected. Specifically, our results show that economy of investments as an outcome of the TGC system has been studied intensively. However, there is less research available on societal consequences of the TGC system, for example in which way a TGC system has influenced different group of potential RES-E investors. Recent literature identifies RES-E investors as heterogeneous groups of actors with different industrial backgrounds and motives. This heterogeneity has a message behind that has not been investigated in studies on TGC schemes. Our findings create several intriguing opportunities for future research.

The building sector has the second largest untapped and cost-effective potential for energy savings after the energy sector itself. Energy efficiency improvements have therefore a fundamental role in achieving the potential energy savings in this sector. Yet, energy efficiency improvements in the residential sector face numerous challenges that hamper the development of this sector.

The main barriers facing homeowners have been the access to capital and high interest expenses. There are also no appropriate financing mechanisms that promote the initiative of making the residential sector more energy efficient. The aim of this thesis is hence to analyze the difficulties and the potential benefits related to financing energy efficiency measures in one- and two-dwelling buildings.

The objective is to provide useful knowledge for the bank about the nature of energy efficiency investments in order to better assess the risks and construct suitable financing models for these measures.This has been done by conducting a case study at Swedbank in Sundbyberg, Sweden. The research design consisted of both a quantitative and qualitative data collection methods.

The qualitative method was used to understand the process of setting the interest rate of a loan and to understand how energy efficiency measures affect the value of a house. The quantitative method was used to identify the most recommended measures for one- and two-dwelling buildings in order to calculate the viability of the energy efficiency measures in terms of economic and environmental aspects.

The results indicate that energy efficiency investments have unique characteristics that differ from other unsecured loans, such as cost savings, increase the value of a house and reduce the environmental risks. These characteristics should be integrated into the current interest rate pricing model in order to promote the implementation of energy efficiency measures. The results also indicate that most of the measures provided low or negative net cash flow in the first few years. This makes it difficult for households to see the economic viability of energy efficiency investments in the short term. Banks can promote investments in energy efficiency measures by adjusting the current funding model to better suit the characteristics of these types of investments.

The construction of wind power is strongly associated with negative local externalities in terms of noise, shadows, visual impact and effects on local environment. To compensate for these negative effects, wind developers seek to find methods to create more local value. The purpose of this study has thus been to identify and evaluate potential methods to increase the local value creation from onshore wind power projects, mainly in the Swedish context.

Firstly, from the literature review and interviews, four different approaches to create local value has been identified. The four identified methods to create local value are (1) community funds, (2) local ownership, (3) modernization and (4) local content. Of these identified methods, local content is deemed to have most potential in creating local value.

The use of local content has generally been strong in the UK, why this study comprises a field study that reveal that British wind developers manage to appoint up to 20-30 % of the total capital expenditure to local companies. Compared to Sweden, the same number is as little asone percent. The explanation to this significant difference could be explained by “three I:s”,, namely, (1) Identification of local companies, (2) Information of opportunities and requirements and (3) Incentive creation for the main contractors.

For Swedish developers to overcome the problems associated with the three I:s, the study presents seven activities that are possible to implement directly into the development process of wind power. Together these activities create a comprehensive way of enhancing the possibility for local companies to be involved in the construction phase, and by doing so, increasing the local value creation.

The IT industry’s main capital is not built into plants, buildings or machines, instead the core assetsof this industry is the knowledge of its employees. Within this knowledge intensive industry,organizational learning and efficient knowledge management becomes key for development,productivity and competitive advantage.Moreover, there is a current trend within IT organizations, away from traditional projectmanagement methods towards projects managed agile. One major difference between agile projectmanagement and traditional project management is the type of knowledge that is generated. Dueto this, different strategies and for knowledge management is required in order to achieveorganizational learning. However, there are no established recommendations how this is done inan organization managing projects both traditional and agile. Therefore, this study investigatedwhat strategies and methods to apply to enhance organizational knowledge in a large ITorganization - managing projects using both agile and traditional methods.This has been done by conducting a case study at Scania IT, a large IT company managing projectusing both traditional and agile project management methods. Moreover, the findings from thecase study were triangulated using a benchmark study and expert interviews.This investigation concludes that a personalization strategy is preferably applied in large ITorganizations managing projects using both agile and traditional methods. Furthermore, the studyshows that intra-project learning is the basis from which organizational knowledge can be formed.For organizations using both traditional and agile project management methods, the agile approachof continuous reflections should be adopted in all projects - regardless of project managementmethod - to enhance intra-project knowledge. Furthermore, to extrapolate project knowledge toorganizational knowledge, focus should be put on networks and knowledge carriers. Efficientnetworks will promote knowledge sharing between project while knowledge carriers enableorganizational knowledge to be formed.

Concern regarding sustainability and climate change is increasing, which is forcing countries world-wide to take action. The Swedish government has set a goal of fossil-free tra_c until 2030. Battery Electric Buses (BEB) might be one of the solutions needed in order to reach this goal. However, currently its prevalence is at an early stage.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the technological transition towards BEBs in Sweden

a_ects the public transport operators (PTOs). Moreover, to investigate how a third party service provider of Fleet Management System (FMS) services can support the PTOs in this transition.

The research has been carried out in co-operation with a PTO and a FMS service provider. The

research contributes to their current understanding of how they will be a_ected by the emerging technological transition. This thesis also contributes with new empirical data of the technological transition towards electric vehicles within public bus transport, seen as a Large Technical System. Conceptually it contributes, by exploring how external companies can support the technological transition towards BEBs, with the application of Technological Transitions theory and the Multi Layer Perspective framework.

The methodology used is a case study of the technological transition towards BEBs in Sweden. Data

was collected through twelve semi-structured interviews with researchers, PTOs, public transport authorities (PTA), a BEB manufacturer and a FMS-service company. Parallel to this a questionnaire was distributed to the twenty largest PTOs in Sweden. Moreover data was collected from company visits, pilot-project results and internal documentation.

Our findings show that there are thirteen perceived barriers present among the PTOs, in the process of BEB adoption. Six of these barriers relate to component aspects of BEBs, and seven relate to managerial aspects. Perceived barriers linked to component aspects of BEBs are; Variation in solutions and lack of technical standards, the Charging infrastructure, Shorter range or decreased load capacity, Unknown functionality in cold climate, Reliability and Durability. Perceived barriers linked to managerial aspects of BEBs are; Lack of knowledge and experience, Behavioral change, Economy, Maintenance, Ownership of infrastructure and buses, Business models and Varying requirements from PTAs.

The barriers FMS-service providers can address are primarily, due to the technological nature of the services, present at niche level. PTOs together with FMS-service providers are encouraged to together strive towards gaining deeper knowledge about the new emerging echnologies. Through this, PTOs could be enabled to overcome the aforementioned barriers.

Three reverse salients were also identi_ed, linked to the aforementioned barriers. If the everse salients are assessed, BEB acceptance among PTOs could be increased. The three identi_ed reverse salients are, the battery technology, the charging infrastructure and the contracts/ownership.

The co-operation with the commissioning PTO and FMS-service provider has led to valuable access to Swedish public transport actors, and has aided in a deeper understanding of the phenomena. Although, this co-operation might have exposed us to a risk of being influenced.

Our attention in this paper is to the relationship between society and science in science-based innovation processes. We propose that citizens’ and scientists’ actions are interlaced and that civil society provides a platform on which novel approaches to innovation may be formed. The empirical focus is set on stem cells and regenerative medicine in California, and the emergence of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). In an effort to advance the area, a coalition of actors went beyond conventional roles and ventured into a broader realm of ‘innovation in innovation’, creating a new financial and organizational model. This has played out in a number of interesting and fruitful ways, and implications can be drawn for innovation policy and practice.

For the past decade, there has been many innovations made to the mobile phone and new features such as payments have been added to the mobile phone’s capabilities. East Africa is the region with the fastest uptake and highest adoption rates of mobile money in the world. Despite the success, the amount of active users of mobile money is still low in comparison to the number of registered users. The purpose of this master thesis is to analyze what mobile money providers should consider when trying to drive activity from the already registered user base.

The main theoretical concept that was used is resource-based view and the analytical framework is an importance-effort matrix. The empirical study consisted of in-depth interviews with key experts and stakeholders from the mobile money industry. Most of the interviews were face-to-face interviews during a research trip to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The findings were then reviewed during the Mobile Money Africa 2014 conference in South Africa.

This thesis has identified a number of reasons for low user activity of the registered user base together with strategies that has the potential to tackle them. In order to drive activity, it is important for the service provider to understand and consider what that is desired and required to possess in terms of tangible, intangible and human resources to be able to successfully implement and run the identified strategies. The study concludes that tangible resources (physical and financial resources) are of great important for enabling success of most of the identified strategies whereas intangible (intellectual property, reputation and culture) and human (skills and knowledge, communication and interaction, and motivation) resources have great variance of importance.

Due to the increasing threat of global warming, today’s grid system faces large changes and challenges as more renewable sources are being implemented in the grid. In order to handle these changes and secure future distribution, new technologies and components are necessary. This study investigates the innovation – IT/OT integration and its rate of adoption among potential adopters – Distribution System Operators.

Based upon 8 expert interviews, 19 interviews with Swedish DSOs and literature, the study has concluded the following:

- Increased micro production in the Swedish electricity grid system is the main drivers for IT/OT integration. IT Security and Swedish Energy Market Inspectorates current pricing model are two of the main inhibitors for IT/OT integration.

- Key factors, such as perceived attributes of the innovation and business transformation speed are of high importance when analyzing rate of adoption.

- Medium-sized DSOs with high ambition are likely to adopt before other customer segments. Thus, they are potential target customers for suppliers, such as Ericsson.

The thesis contributes to literature by providing research of a technical innovation within a complex market. Future research of interest is to apply similar methodology for predicting rate of adoption of IT/OT integration in other nations, since drivers and regulations might differ.

Rules and regulations for industry are of great importance for the wellbeing of a country. In this chapter I discuss the complex inter-play between governmental actions and industrial development in Sweden during one and a half century. I divide the period into three phases.

The first phase was initiated in the mid-1800s when a number of decisions speeded up the process of industrialization in Sweden – giving Sweden many new ventures founded by entrepreneurs. The second phase was initiated by the depression after World War I. The ownership of Swedish industry was concentrated to a few financial spheres, which closely cooperated with the Social Democratic government and the reformist labor movement. The third phase was initiated by the crises in the mid-1970s. The Social Democrats lost the election in 1976 and a new political era was born. In the late 1980s it was also followed by a new globalization era in industry.

Globalization has fundamentally changed possibilities for small nations, like Sweden, to form national strategies for growth. But still the “Swedish model” from last century evokes a nostalgic response from many Swedes. Also, some concepts and institutions, as well as rules and regulations, still survive with some strength, even though they originated in a different era and are less relevant today. I hope that the reader of this chapter shall be aware that yesterday’s successful principles of setting rules for industry, as well as organizing and managing different businesses might no longer be appropriate.